By John Moltz

August 9, 2024 4:10 PM PT

This Week in Apple: Easy come, easy go

This week we’ve got a ruling against Google, prompts for both AI and humans, and teeny tiny Macs!

At least we’ll still have customer sat

Seems like almost everyone is fighting off an antitrust suit these days. This week Google came up a bit short as a judge ruled that Google ‘is a monopolist’ in an antitrust case.

This, of course, has huge implications for Apple, which gets paid something like $20 billion every year to make Google the default search engine in Safari. Upon hearing of the ruling, Tim Cook reportedly looked up and exclaimed “My precious Services revenue!” He then grabbed up several spreadsheets and held them to his chest, sobbing.

It’s worse for Google, of course, and while Apple could see a real hit to its bottom line, it would be a temporary adjustment and one that’s not really reflective of its own well-being as a company. Its platforms are still worth a lot, otherwise Google wouldn’t be paying it so much! It’s just that the firehose of free money would get shut off.

The zinger in this story comes from Apple SVP Eddy Cue, who said during the trial that there was “no price that Microsoft could ever offer” that would get Apple to preload Bing. You can take a minute to walk that one off, Microsoft. Don’t take too long, though, because you also have an antitrust suit to fight off.

What prompted this?

Some beta sleuthers have discovered the prompts Apple is using in Apple Intelligence. They read a bit like a 1950s informational video on how to conduct a successful job interview.

You are an assistant which helps the user respond to their mails.

You might wonder why some of these prompts aren’t used for every AI interaction. Such as:

Do not hallucinate. Do not make up factual information.

That’s all you had to do?! Why haven’t AI companies been using these prompts from day one?! Since it seems to be “just that easy,” here are a few more I’d like to suggest:

• Do not suggest I eat rocks and glue.
• Do not promulgate anti-democratic conspiracy theories.
• Do not activate the orbital laser platform.
• Do not conspire with other AIs to exterminate all human life.

That’s not an exhaustive list, but it seems like a good start.

While these prompts seem to be needed, Apple is adding some in other areas that are really too much. Namely, that the macOS Sequoia beta adds a weekly permission prompt for screenshot and screen recording apps.

Weekly! Does anyone at Apple actually use these products anymore, or are they all now designed by philosopher-programmers who live in caves and seek Platonic ideals of how an operating system should work as they nod sagely at each other?

Apple philosopher-programmer 1: “Best to ensure the plebeians do not harm themselves with their foolishness and rash undertakings.”

Apple philosopher-programmer 2: “Indeed. One wonders how they manage to conduct their daily affairs without disturbing their humors to the point of intense agitation.”

Maybe they could just give us a… dial or something? You know, so we can adjust between controlling AI on the one side and ruining stuff we use all the time on the other.

The Mac mini mini

There’s a big little rumor swirling around the Mac mini, as Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that the M4-based Mac mini scheduled to be released later this year will be closer to the size of the Apple TV, albeit slightly taller. (Please sign my online petition to change the name to Mac Chonkie-boi.)

While this is likely to cause some consternation from people who have built up a supply of peripherals that match the size of the current Mac mini, I welcome a new form factor and not just because it’ll give us all something to write about that’s not AI or antitrust-related. (Although that is definitely part of it!) The current form factor of the Mac mini is 14 years old. The previous form factor was only around for half that time.

Hey, I get it. It’s tough to let go. But even I finally got rid of that Bondi blue USB hub.

I mean, like, last year. But I did get rid of it.

[John Moltz is a Six Colors contributor. You can find him on Mastodon at Mastodon.social/@moltz and he sells items with references you might get on Cotton Bureau.]